The Forbidden Ranch: Honor Elizabeth Wilde Tale 0f Suspense (Half Breed Haven Book 5) Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  THE FORBIDDEN RANCH

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  FOREWORD

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  THE FORBIDDEN RANCH

  AN HONOR ELIZABETH WILDE ADULT WESTERN

  By

  A.M. VAN DORN

  Copyright © 2018

  Cedar Ledge Publishing

  All Rights Reserved

  BOOKS IN THE WILDES OF THE WEST SERIES

  NOW AVAILABLE

  THE WILDES OF THE WEST #1: THE DAUGHTERS OF HALF BREED HAVEN

  HALF BREED HAVEN #1: WILDE-FIRE

  HALF BREED HAVEN #2: IN DANGER’S SHADOW

  HALF BREED HAVEN #3: DARK RIVALS

  HALF BREED HAVEN #4: SILVER, GOLD & DECEPTION

  HALF BREED HAVEN #5: THE FORBIDDEN RANCH

  ALL CAN BE FOUND AT THIS LINK

  https://www.amazon.com/A.M.-Van-Dorn/e/B077GNX3GP/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

  COMING SOON in 2018

  HALF BREED HAVEN: SING THE DEATH SONG

  (A Dutch Wilde & Bright Feather adult western adventure)

  HALF BREED HAVEN: DISASTER AT DEVIL’S CANYON

  (A Blue River Wilde adult western adventure)

  AND

  THE WILDES OF THE WEST #2: DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  * * *

  Thank you for joining the Wilde sisters on one of their adventures. Just a quick note regarding what you are about to read

  Please be advised the Wilde sisters are all grownups and therefore they engage in very adult escapades and situations that include their romantic encounters as well as the sudden violence that can occur in their continued fight against assorted bad guys of the Old West.

  So, in short, these stories are recommended for mature readers of 18+ years of age.

  With that said it’s time to saddle up and dive into the world of Half Breed Haven!

  A.M. VAN DORN

  Contact Information can be found at: [email protected]

  or

  www.thewildesofthewest.com

  From the Journal of Honor Elizabeth Wilde

  1873

  I shall confess to being remiss in keeping this journal up to date this past week. However, I believe I shall forgive myself considering the events of said week.

  Where to even begin … it would seem the best place is to start with the shocking act of violence committed by kin against kin in the final days of our country’s woeful and tragic Civil War. There on a plantation that no longer stands was that cardinal sin carried out leaving a witness. A slave who would flee for his life, not just that night but for nearly a decade to come.

  A man in hiding whose path would align with that of my own far from the antebellum South in an arid Arizona cattle town as I sought to make him my lover. That is unless those out to see him dead succeeded in fulfilling their long-cherished goal. The one thing they could never have counted on as their plan of murder reached its fruition was crossing path with a Wilde … this Wilde!

  My dear sisters will tell you I am fond of saying trouble finds us, and that was surely true in the instance of which I have just written above. However, in the next matter, as this week continued to unfold, it was I who went looking for trouble and I will attest to you, I surely found it when curiosity got the better of me.

  The Triple W … a forbidden ranch to all Alamieda. A place none had set foot on in over half a decade. Well, perhaps I should rephrase that—none that lived to tell about it, as I discovered. A mysterious syndicate had closed it off from prying eyes for all those years. Until events aligned that gave me a pretense to head for that ranch … uninvited, I shall confess, and my curiosity was rewarded with the deadly danger I soon found myself in with him … Jeb Winters. A man among men if I ever saw one.

  Jeb, his every kiss burned my lips, settled in my stomach and unfolded to reach every nook and cranny of my soul. Nothing could have prepared me for the delights of my time with him; nothing. Together, we took our short acquaintance to the next level; a world of sensual pleasures that burned the sheets as we made love fueled by lust and such mutual desire. I still see Jeb Winter’s hard body wrapped all around mine, his hand roaming my nakedness, exploring in all the places a woman would wish, making my toes curl and my insides sing with pleasure.

  One does not reap such rewards without some measure of cost however. My decision to head to the Triple W and into Jeb’s orbit had ramifications that, even as I write this, are still being felt. The sound of the hammering and the workmen that Lijuan hired at great expense to make Half Breed Haven whole again drifts up from the floor below me. For it was my insertion into the world of the Syndicate that led to all the damage to my beloved home when the ranch itself would come under siege, as the evil Syndicate sought to see Jeb Winters dead—even if it meant killing everyone on the ranch and putting a torch to Cedar Ledge!

  FOREWORD

  * * *

  My name is Allie Mastluehr, and in the spring of 1913, I stumbled upon some of the most remarkable but forgotten tales of the old American West. These tales were narrated to me in the desolate ruins of Cedar Ledge—a once mighty Arizona ranch—and I promise that everything I was told wasn’t just tales; they were history, almost lost to the unpromising winds of time.

  I experienced countless series of shock as the ranch's last inhabitant, old Cattie Wilde, relayed to me the true story of the heroics of the most improbable of mixed race families, of which she had been a member. She quickly immersed me in all the action, adventure, romance, and family drama that came with being one-quarter of the formidable foursome known to friends and foes alike as THE DAUGHTERS OF HALF BREED HAVEN. In short, I learned of this stunning multiracial quartet, whose bravery, thirst for justice and love for each other were matched only by their unbridled appetite for the most casual and sizzling encounters with the opposite (or in Catalina's case, the same) sex.

  The Mexican Catalina, along with the fair-skinned, blonde Cassandra, mulatto Honor Elizabeth, and Asian Lijuan, all half-sisters, were the proud daughters of Judge William Henry “Whip” Wilde. The interracial sisters along with their sibling—cavalry officer Dutch and his Indian love Bright Feather, and their youngest brother, the Yavapai brave Blue River, the WILDES OF THE WEST upheld the law and aided those in need amidst the pristine beauty and natural wonders that was their corner of 1870s Arizona.

  Though I have only had the privilege of knowing Catalina through her stories and the significant volume of diaries and journals mercifully saved by Cattie, the rest of the Wildes have become as alive to me as if they were standing before me as I write this.

  Honor Elizabeth Wilde - As a mulatto, this sister was trapped between two worlds. But she knew she was the equal of any full white or black woman in the West and never acted any differently. Despite her pampered nature as an unabashed Daddy’s Girl and somewhat of a dilettante in many things, Honor was at all times 100 percent as capable as her sisters whenever they found themselves up against those who sought to sow chaos and evil in the Arizona territory.

  Catalina, my gracious host, who now, for al
l practical purposes, feels like is becoming the mother I never had, has graciously made available to me, all her family’s writings so that I may pen the definitive tale of this unique and exceptional family and the adversity they faced. The more I read of them the greater my amazement and respect for them grows, as I follow their adventures in vanquishing villains and bedding whatever conquest happens to come their way.

  Together, the Wilde sisters could be near unstoppable. But whenever alone or in pairs, they still proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

  This was very clear to me as I read through their journals, such as this entry by Honor Elizabeth Wilde in one of her journals when she placed herself in the crosshairs of some very dangerous men, when she became entwined in the business of a brave lawman out to end the nefarious affairs taking place on …

  THE FORBIDDEN RANCH

  MESA VERDE

  ARIZONA TERRITORY

  1873

  CHAPTER 1

  * * *

  I am naked and there is a killer in the house!

  Honor Elizabeth Wilde, with her knees drawn up and nearly touching her chin, pressed her back against the butcher block that sat in the middle of the kitchen trying to ball herself up as small as possible. It wasn’t fear that was causing her to shrink up; it was a strong desire to remain undiscovered until she had come up with a way out of this most unfortunate predicament she had now found herself in.

  For a moment her eyes rolled upward, she knew she could not see it, but Honor knew it was there sitting on top of the butcher block. Her thoughts returned to the six-inch knife still buried in the key lime pie right next to the two plates holding equal sized slices that Josiah had carved out and placed on them only a few minutes ago before the evening had devolved into one of life or death. Honor was thinking hard about the knife, just as hard as she was about the fact that if the intruder came into the kitchen for any reason, he would see the two plates and know Josiah was not alone, and her discovery would be a certainty.

  Gently she turned herself around onto her knees, her large bare breasts that were part and parcel of being one of the four Wilde sisters pressed against the cool wood of the butcher block as she slowly raised herself up, her hand closing around the hilt of the knife. Now she at least had a weapon.

  She wiped the residue of key lime pie on her left thigh and then examined the knife. It wasn’t the weapon her Bowie knife was, but it was sharp and would serve her nicely if—or rather when—she needed it. For a moment she thought of her knife and of her Colt. 45. Both were back in her room at the hotel. She had left them behind because she had just been going on a simple date, for heaven’s sake! Her rendezvous with Josiah from the livery stable had hardly seemed like it would call for her to show up armed. Besides, what would the man think if she arrived at his home, a Bowie knife on one hip and the six-shooter on the other?

  Water under the bridge, dear Honor, she thought as the sound of brutish laughter was coming from the bedroom. Josiah was being taunted by the very man who had crossed half a continent to catch up with him, and the brute was clearly enjoying every minute of it.

  “When I lay them pictures of your black hide out in front of him, Dumont is gonna make me a rich man! All gonna be worth it, boy! This gravy train I’ve been a-riding ever since the end of that northern war of aggression is gonna end for me, but it’s gonna end big!”

  The voice dripped with mirth and hatred entwined, but Honor hadn’t paid much attention to the words that followed after he had mentioned the pictures. Earlier she had heard him mention the camera. Slowly, she felt her lips took a turn upward, and she nodded her head up and down twice, making her curly ringlets shake. The photography equipment that was what was going to help her.

  Honor's eyes looked up at the small open window above the sink. When she had arrived earlier the pie had been sitting on the windowsill where it had been cooling. When Josiah had plucked it from the sill, he had never bothered to close the window. She found herself most grateful for that fact, because who knew how much noise it might make if she had to open it.

  Slowly she stood and looked back towards the door to the bedroom. Josiah’s place was small and the door to the bedroom opened right out onto the combined living room and kitchen. All the man had to do was open the door and this time he would be sure to find her, she fretted, knowing luck had saved her before when he had first kicked the door in. She longed to retrieve her dress which she had stripped out of earlier to entice the somewhat shy Josiah with her nude body, but it was on the other side of the butcher block and she didn’t wish to waste any time attempting to retrieve it and get caught trying to put it back on. Time to be hasty, she concluded, and looked at the knife and tossed it out the window. Gently she pulled her body up onto the sink next to the old stove.

  Honor Elizabeth again gazed back over her shoulder before she began to crawl through the tiny opening. She froze for a moment as her heart shaped ass bumped the wooden part of the frame just below the glass. This would be a hell of a position to be caught in if the killer burst into the kitchen just now. If things weren’t so deadly serious she could almost have laughed at the image. Honor continued to wriggle forward and a moment later she tumbled the three to four feet to the ground, landing on her side before rolling over onto her belly, her breasts crushing into the soft earth. Reaching out she felt around until her hand closed around the hilt of the knife.

  Like an animal stalking its prey, she began to crawl across the ground until she emerged from the side of the house and was able to take in the view of the front. Being the pleasant evening that it had been, Honor had chosen to walk to Josiah's house, and she was now thankful she had instead of driving Whip's carriage as she had originally planned. Without that visual clue, the interloper would have known the moment he pulled up that Josiah was not alone. This lack of knowledge gave her the element of surprise and she intended to make full use of it.

  She looked at the man's horse tied up to a mesquite tree in the front yard. The mount chuffed and stomped one of its feet but all Honor really paid attention to was the small cart-like box strapped behind the horse. Immediately she now recognized it as the developing box used for photography. It was a skill that she not only knew about but also was well practiced in.

  Make fun of me now, Lannie! She smirked to herself. Lijuan was always chiding her for how Honor had a penchant of going from one hobby to another, always losing interest in one before latching on to another, and usually blowing a good deal of money in the process. Honor had sniffed that it was her money to do as she pleased since all six children and Whip received equal shares of the profits from Cedar Ledge’s cattle and timber operations.

  Honor had to admit, photography was one of the ones that she had more quickly lost interest in than some of the others. Taking the pictures was the fun part, but the whole developing process was tedious and time-consuming and left little room for error. How wonderful she thought would it be if obtaining photographs were as simple as pointing and shooting and then have the picture appear instantly. Shaking off the outlandishness of the notion as some type of Jules Verne-style fantasy, she focused her attention on the developer's cart and the camera with the long tripod attached to it that was strapped to the top of the box. Everything she needed would be there she thought with a deep satisfaction.

  However, before she did anything, she didn’t plan to rescue her new would-be lover stark naked. Honor rose and took a moment putting her hands to work to slap the dust off from all over her body. Her hands passed over her large dark nipples and down her flat stomach and over to the curves that made up the hourglass figure that all four sisters shared. Finally, when she was through cleaning up as best she could stealthily she crossed to the man’s horse and opened one of the saddlebags and began to rifle through it. Her hands passed over several objects and items of clothing before her hands felt a collar and yanked on it.

  Quickly she slipped it on, her nose wrinkling at the smell of a month’s worth of sweaty body odor t
hat enveloped the garment. She was thankful, though, that it covered down to her mid thighs. She cringed for a moment as she found a dirty sock and worked behind her head to tie her hair up. Then she slipped the kitchen knife vertically into the knot of the sock so it would be hidden behind her head.

  Next, she undid the latch and quietly flipped up the door and looked inside. Her eyes crinkled at the site of tin cans, bottles, and glass plates. All manner of items related to the practice of photography. Honor smiled as she spied one canister in particular, and she licked her lips in satisfaction.

  As she worked to unbuckle the straps holding the camera mounted permanently to a tripod that lay horizontally strapped to the top of the cart, she thought, how have I arrived at this moment? Her eyes went skyward taking in the sight of the endless sky that twinkled with its merry stars over the vast Arizona territory. With a sigh, she shrugged as the answer came to her.

  Easy. You are Wilde and trouble always finds you!

  ***

  EARLIER

  With a sway of her curvaceous hips that almost bordered on a swagger Honor Elizabeth strolled down the dusty street of the cattle town. Somewhere along the way she had bent down and idly picked up a long stick that had lain on the side of the road for God only knew how long.

  As she strolled without thinking, she dragged the stick along a white picket fence she was passing by, and then the stick fell to her side as the next house she approached was without a fence. Honor was in the highest of spirits. It was her and her father’s last night in Mesa Verde before the judge’s circuit took them to the last stop for a set of trials starting the following day in Casper’s Crossing. It was her intention of making the most of this last night with the handsome and strapping Josiah Daniels from the livery stable.